No Murphy this week either, though he seemed fine where he was out in the field, enjoying a bit of grass. Of course, as long as I am riding a horse that doesn’t scare me, I enjoy the riding, and I know that I need to get used to riding more horses. I guess its mainly that I just have the one lesson each week, so it always feels a little sad not to be riding Murphy since that is without question what I enjoy the most.

In any case, I was on Fleur again, and for what we practised she was a pretty good pick. We did a lot of transitions to and from canter, and then the main exercise was riding a line that is part of the dressage program we’ll be riding in a few weeks. I’ve completely forgotten the English term, but its where you turn in from the middle of the short end and loop back on a diagonal line to the side you came from and you’re supposed to reach the wall before the middle of that side.

We trotted it quite a few times at first, to make sure we had a good grip on the outside of our horses, and then we did it at a canter, where we also continued cantering after reaching the wall again which meant half a side of counter-canter. Fleur may not have a good canter, but it is very solid and dependable, and I was able to concentrate on the turn and on my seat. Overall, I am pretty pleased. I think I rode rather decisively from the start, and some of the canter work felt quite good. Given Fleur’s age, it does make a difference that she had been used in the lesson just before ours too, as she was much more supple right off than she usually is. But I think I used that advantage well.

I also signed up, at least preliminarily, for a jumping competition next Friday. May get cold feet, though.